Forum

Monthly Fee Quandry

I have a new client who wants to pay monthly for annual accounts. I find this fiendishly complex to administer, because:

1. It all depends on when the contract begins and when the accounts are due;

2. What happens if the professional relationship ends, say 5 months into the year and you've only collected 5/12 of the fee for doing the accounts and you've done them - you have then underrecovered 7/12 of your fee

3. As with 2, but you haven't done the accounts and the client wants the 5/12 back.

Also, I am still charging hourly rates, so even if the relationship lasts, what's the simplest way to reconcile monthly payments with a fee based on the time taken to complete the accounts? It gets rather cumbersome to do this for just the one client.